4" SJR lift on Loyale, CV annihilation

[el_freddo]

Use the 6mm pin punch to check the stub axle hole alignment with the CV cup’s ole before smashing the roll pin back in place. Or slide under the car or safe to do so and visually check it, either way works for me. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[Ionstorm66]

Put the middle of axle shaft in a vice. Twist both of the cvs and feel for wear. You should just barely feel any with a greased CV. One with a blow boot and low grease might have a degree or two. Any more than that, and it's suspect.

 

 

Take the axle apart all the way, clean all the old grease and dirt out. Then put the axle shaft in a vice. Assemble the CV on it with no boot or grease, just a dry test fit. Give it a twist again and feel for slop. It should be like max 5 degrees in my opinion/exp. I have never had issues with pitted balls, cups or cages. The grease seems to even it out.

[Ionstorm66]

Also make sure you aren't yanking on the diff at full droop. The CVs only have so much plunge. If you run out of extension from lifting, it will destory the diff bearings.

 

Lift the front wheels of the ground and give the axles a shake. If they are tight, then you need to drop the engine more.

[idosubaru]

On 3/9/2022 at 10:21 PM, DaveT said:

One of mine had a little more wear on the sides that were carrying the load, so I swapped the axle to the other side, which puts the load on the opposite faces

 

Yes - consider this!  Regrease both axles and switch sides left to right.  I'd be very surprised if you have any noise regreasing and certainly not after regreasing and switching sides. Also a visual inspection of the guts is smart cookies. 

[subaru1988]

16 hours ago, Ionstorm66 said:

Put the middle of axle shaft in a vice. Twist both of the cvs and feel for wear. You should just barely feel any with a greased CV. One with a blow boot and low grease might have a degree or two. Any more than that, and it's suspect.

Take the axle apart all the way, clean all the old grease and dirt out. Then put the axle shaft in a vice. Assemble the CV on it with no boot or grease, just a dry test fit. Give it a twist again and feel for slop. It should be like max 5 degrees in my opinion/exp. I have never had issues with pitted balls, cups or cages. The grease seems to even it out.

Interesting.. So it's basically looking for severely worn balls, cups, and cages then? As in deep scoring, I guess? I can't see how else they could wear.

10 hours ago, idosubaru said:

Yes - consider this!  Regrease both axles and switch sides left to right.  I'd be very surprised if you have any noise regreasing and certainly not after regreasing and switching sides. Also a visual inspection of the guts is smart cookies. 

I think this is worth a try. On a straight road at steady speed, I have no axle noise. It's only when accelerating and somewhat when turning. Like I said, these axles have more than 80,000 miles on them even though they aren't OEM, so they must be half decent quality. Looks like a boot kit and a good cleaning and repack is the best place to start.

[DaveT]

The ones I've done, the places they run most of the time get nice and polished.  The worn one, I could see a small difference in the curve of the surface.   Some balls in one had marks on them.  Mostly depends on if they got dirt in them while running with torn boots, etc.

[Ionstorm66]

Yeah pitting from rust has never seemed to hurt CVs. Lines and grooves are from sand/metal, and definitely can make noise. If the CVs are tight, even grooved ones can work fine. These are 500hp, 150mph race cars, so some slightly worn out CVs work fine.